FAR RIGHT COMING FORCE?

When did we go to sleep and allow the far right to dominate politics in Britain? Whether it’s the anti-immigration policies of the govt, the quiet authoritarianism of identity cards, or the shame that is Belmarsh the far right is here and now.

Will the BNP and the UKIP be the Next Step in the lurch to the right?

“Nick Griffin, chairman of the British National Party, had something extra to celebrate at Christmas. His arrest last month on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred (he was later released on bail until March) gives him a pre-election platform to parade himself yet again as a champion of free speech who is being persecuted for telling the truth about immigration and asylum. This will no doubt be central to his campaign in Keighley, west Yorkshire, where this month he announced his intention to stand against the Labour MP Ann Cryer and where he was arrested for, among other things, saying Islam was "a vicious, wicked faith".

The rhetoric of "truth-telling" is fundamental to the strategies of both the BNP and United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) and shows that they are part of the same phenomenon. It allows them to express solidarity with racism and xenophobia while also defining themselves as plain-speaking folk who will risk persecution for their defiance of liberal hegemony and "politically correct" laws and attitudes.”

Read the full story here.